If that go again the law, is moving a tenant to an empty unit and making them sign a new lease as a new tenant will break the law.

The NWMLS Buyer Brokerage Services Agreement breaks down how this works. 

They are all older houses so you need to have a good team since things break often.

And no matter what, straight percentages of the income don't work...unless of course you slide the percentage around for the above-named variables, but at the end of the day your resulting answer will break down to $/unit so you might as well just start there and dump the percentages.

You can buy an almost new or brand new single family home here in Arizona for $250-300k, combine taxes and insurance of under $2k per year, rent for $1500-1800, will break even on cash flow with 25-30% down because there is no maintenance or cap ex since it's new (you will have these eventually but rents will increase by the time that happens).

When the cat leaves, the mice will play".Most folks that invest out of state are cat's that are never present.So the realtors, contractors and property manager (The mice), are always playing and making a fortune doing so.You really need to spend a lot of time in establishing the right relationships in order to make it work from afar.Picking a market, visiting it regularly and immersing yourself in it non stop.Having family can also help but I decided a long time ago to not mix business with family and friends as it can get heart breaking when things don't turn out well.Wishing you much success

I got a multi unit in 2017 with so little cash flow it was break even for the most part.

After hearing her plight and the fact that she never opens any windows, I reminded her that this is business and I would not take it personal if she felt the need to break the lease and move out.

To break down the math:Purchase price expected: 500-600kDown payment: I am a first time home buyer, but I can go with 15%. 

The ramp up to Christmas shows a lot more views.